May 15, 2012

The Heritage Foundation’s Rory Cooper tweeted that Obama had casually dropped his own name into Ronald Reagan’s official biography on www.whitehouse.gov, claiming credit for taking up the mantle of Reagan’s tax reform advocacy with his “Buffett Rule” gimmick. My first thought was, he must be joking. But he wasn’t—it turns out Obama has added bullet points bragging about his own accomplishments to the biographical sketches of every single U.S. president since Calvin Coolidge (except, for some reason, Gerald Ford)....

IN THE COMMENTS: tim in vermont makes perhaps the funniest comment in the history of this blog:

Is anyone surprised ? I have a post over at ChicagoBoyz about a little known provision in Obamacare that nobody has mentioned accept a few nerd doctors. It has a clause that prohibits any future Congress from repealing or modifying the IPAB provision (which restricts ALL heath care spending, public or private). There is, as far as I know, no similar provision in US history. Do the constitutional lawyers know about this ? Only Obama and Pelosi would try this.

I will say it again- Romney should pledge he will put an end to 247 poiticization of the White House where a lobbyist visits the Whie House 34 times as Hillary Rosen did. This country is in big trouble and to what end did her visits serve to fix some of our problems.

Enough is enough! [and I am not saying nor suggesting this started with the Obama administration].

1. This is absolutely the "Chicago Way". You can't go anywhere in Chicago without seeing the Mayor's name, courtesy of the taxpayer rather than the Mayor's campaign fund. (This has been the practice for years and years.)

2. I seriously doubt the President himself approved this plan or even knew about it. However...

3. Can we hope that whoever conceived this plan will soon be out of the White House? Have we gone too far for that?

Normally, presidents look weak during periods of economic stagnation, overwhelmed by events. But Obama has displayed a kind of ESPN masculinity: postfeminist in his values, but also thoroughly traditional in style — hypercompetitive, restrained, not given to self-doubt, rarely self-indulgent.

Because when we think of Obama, we certainly think "rarely self-indulgent"!!!

"Normally, presidents look weak during periods of economic stagnation, overwhelmed by events. But Obama has displayed a kind of ESPN masculinity: postfeminist in his values, but also thoroughly traditional in style — hypercompetitive, restrained, not given to self-doubt, rarely self-indulgent."

Name an American sportsfan not completely tired of the doofs on SportsCenter.

1. This is absolutely the "Chicago Way". You can't go anywhere in Chicago without seeing the Mayor's name, courtesy of the taxpayer rather than the Mayor's campaign fund. (This has been the practice for years and years.)

Bingo. That was my first thought about this as well. The Obama White House is Chicago politics on a national scale. And why should that surprise anyone?

There are two different issues and I wish more attention was paid to the second. One is that the insertion of the President into the biographies is silly, inane, beneath the dignity of the office of the President.

The other is that this is a good example of using taxpayer money, public resources, for the aggrandizement of a public official.

"In a June 28, 1985 speech Reagan called for a fairer tax code, one where a multi-millionaire did not have a lower tax rate than his secretary. Today, President Obama is calling for the same with the Buffett Rule. "

This is not some random blurb, like a web ad, that just happened to appear there, this is written as a specific "supplement" to the Reagan Bio.

"In a June 28, 1985 speech Reagan called for a fairer tax code, one where a multi-millionaire did not have a lower tax rate than his secretary. Today, President Obama is calling for the same with the Buffett Rule. "

-- Did Reagan want to lower the secretary's taxes or raise the multi-millionaire's taxes? A little of both? Reform the whole system? I don't think Reagan had a Buffett rule.

Maybe John Lovitz was actually angry at Obama for stealing his shtick."Yes, I consulted with ALL of the former presidents. All the ones elected, that is."And my composite gir-, I mean my actual girl friend, was Morgan Fairchild."Yeah, Morgan Fairchild."That's the ticket."

(And thank God for what constitution we have left else this guy would be working at making himself President for Life.)

Don't be too sure. We may have some sort of crisis that requires martial law. Micheal K asks, "Is anyone surprised?" If you are you shouldn't be. There is very little this man could do that would surprise, very little.

What we're seeing is just a manifestation of seeing all those images of "Dear Leader" all over the place in countries ran by dictators. I wonder if the dictator ordered his image plastered everywhere or if his sychophants did it on his behalf. This is going beyond the bounds of narcissism to meglomania.

President Coolidge later helped create the Federal Radio Commission, which has now evolved to become the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). President opposed Gay marriage, which evolved to backing Gay marriage.

When I was an undergrad in the 60s I took a class with a philosophy professor from Greece who had painted a Greek frieze border around the top of his home's dining room walls depicting all the Greek Gods in appropriate poses--except each and EVERYONE had his own likeness attached as the head rather than that of the relevant God! I thought that was the apex of narcissism that I would probably ever see in my lifetime. Little did I know..

When I was an undergrad in the 60s I took a class with a philosophy professor from Greece who had painted a Greek frieze border around the top of his home's dining room walls depicting all the Greek Gods in appropriate poses--except each and EVERYONE had his own likeness attached as the head rather than that of the relevant God!

How can the United States of America have a law which it makes which says no one can repeak it? It can't.

And remember -- these are the smartest people not only in the room, but in the world. And who needs to read a billl before they pass it. sdid your Senator or rep vote for it? Point that sweet sucker out. Ask them what they are going to be doing in 2013.

Please tell more people. (I wonder if that was brought up in SCOTUS discussion? I don't remember the Professor mentioning it.)

After leaving office, BHO needs to head south to Venezuela. They'll be looking for him by then. (Hugo needs to put him on the ballot as the VP.)

The "factcheck" is bullshit. I live in Chicago and I heard a talk radio discussion of the issue during the last election. The legal people were all Democrats with access to records. They did not have direct knowledge of her particular case except for the "asked to surrender" part. As to why a judge would ask a lawyer to surrender his/her license or why a lawyer would do that without a fight, they could not say, but they all agreed that it had happened--her agreeing to do so was part of the transcript. From their personal experience, they could recall cases that would have warranted criminal prosecution against a particular lawyer but a judge giving a kinder option to satisfy the wronged party-- and as a professional courtesy to the lawyer and as to not embarrass the legal profession. However the entries appear now is a matter for additional discussion. Or investigation. Barack did elect to put his license on inactive status. But he was facing professional complaints with the Bar Association (and unpaid parking tickets and untruthful denials of outstanding fines or fees on sworn documents). Going inactive resulted in the dismissal of the pending hearing.

icepick ... puleeze, Snopes?! They also said that a verbatim video and quotation of Obama saying his father served in WWII was true, but "false." They acknowledge he said it, but claimed it wasn't misstatement, just misspoken, and therefore, although he DID said it, the allegation of it's lack of veracity was "false."

Snopes has adopted the False, but Accurate" meme ... of Dan Rather, who still asserts it.

Now whether he or his wife has or has bot a law license is of no interest to me, but using Snopes as a reliable citation is blarney.

Additional points. Barack and Michelle both lived in Cook County and there was a relatively short amount of time between their actions. Why aren't the records worded the same in both cases? Have lawyers forgotten about the importance of words and consistency? So clerks are allowed to enter "voluntary inactice status" or "court ordered suspension" at whim? I'd slip the clerk a fin to get the former, just saying.

And when Barack was running for the Senate, Michelle was being interviewed by each of the networks--it seemed like every time I turned on the TV. They had her talk about the importance of her job at The University of Chicago Hospitals and they always made reference to the fact that she was a lawyer and she never corrected them or said that he license was "inactive." She always gave the impression that being a lawyer was an essential aspect of the work. She was always interviewed by a female reporter that emphasized the two-lawyer aspect of their household. It was a huge surprise when I heard that she had surrendered her law license three years after passing the Bar. That came out in 2008. I can't find any interview where she ever talked about it since. I guess no journalist is curious.

Aridog, so far we have one claim that someone heard it on the radio in favor of Michelle and Barack Obama being disbarred, on one internet citation you don't buy against. So far the only sources I have found in favor of disbarment are highly partisan sites.

On the other hand, I found this link and this link, to Michelle Obama's and Barack Obama's information (repsectively) on the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois (IARDC) web site.

These links tell us the status of the Obamas to practice law in Illinois. For Michelle it states "Voluntarily inactive and not authorized to practice law". For Barry it states "Voluntarily retired and not authorized to practice law". Neither has a Public Record of Discipline and Pending Proceedings. In other wrods, just what Snopes said.

So come on, guys. These idiots have pulled enough crap in their lives (and especially in the last 3+ years) that we don't need to make up a bunch of tinfoil hat bullshit on top of it. He's a shit President and she's an obnoxious First Lady - isn't that enough reason to dislike them?

After leaving office, BHO needs to head south to Venezuela. They'll be looking for him by then. (Hugo needs to put him on the ballot as the VP.)... He would win,in Venezuela republicans are seen as Evil and Democrats as Angels.A opposition leader , former secretary of state wrote: Clinton negotiated free trade agreements with centroameica and Southamerica. Bush only finished then forced by circunsatnces and republicans gladly killed the treaty with Colombi. No matter , the fast track was given to W in 2002 and Pelosi killed it Republicans are antiinmigration . No matter if Reagan signed the amnesty .An republican are portrayed as the USA chavistas so ...Another compared the murders of hundreds of Union leaders in venezuela to Walker´s reforms in WisconsinBTW: the VP is named by the President at will. There is no VP in the ballot.I have double nationality and i would vote republican if i lived in the USA.

said...I have read that the Pentagon had contingency plans about what to do if Nixon had refused to resign. I hope they also have plans now about what to do if Barack postpones the election or refuses to acknowledge a defeat at the polls. Many other countries have had this problem. We in the US are lucky we have not yet had it. Most Americans trust the military more than any other institution. They may yet be the savior of the republic.

FWIW, I've always thought as Michelle Obama as someone with a law degree, but not necessarily as a lawyer, for example; with regard to Barack Obama, I've long thought of him as someone trained in law, but not as an attorney in practice, for example. I suppose these might be seen as bullshit distinctions, but--yet--I still think that sometimes the differences lie in the distinctions and vice versa.